Treasury secretary urges quick increase in US borrowing limit

Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew on Thursday urged Congress to raise the government's borrowing limit before Oct. 17, warning that a Republican idea to prioritize payments with cash on hand could cause "irrevocable damage" to the U.S. economy.In testimony before the Senate Finance Committee, Lew said that trying to make such perilous choices between paying veterans or Social Security checks is not a good option and risks the first default on U.S. debt in history. He repeated the administration's demand that …